Iowa athletics finishes at No. 30 in Learfield Director’s Cup standings

The Director’s Cup awards points to college athletic departments based on national postseason success.

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Tate Hildyard

Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta speaks at a press conference July 30.

Will Fineman, Sports Reporter


University of Iowa athletics came in at No. 30 in the final rankings of the 2020-21 Learfield IMG College Director’s Cup.

The University of Texas took home the 2020-21 Director’s Cup, becoming one of three schools to ever win the cup. In the 28-year history of the Director’s Cup, Stanford University has been the victor 26 times.

The Director’s Cup awards points to college athletic departments based on national postseason success. Team success in conference championships does not count toward the Director’s Cup.

Scoring for all sports, with the exception of FBS football, is dependent on the structure of the postseason, how many teams qualify for the national tournament, and what place the teams finish. FBS football is the only sport that points are awarded based on the USA Today national rankings.

The final rankings are released following the College Football Playoff championship game,

The top 25 FBS teams are awarded between 49 and 100 points — the national champions receive 100 points, and the No. 25 team receives 49 points.

Unranked FBS football teams that won a bowl game are given 45 points while unranked teams that lost a bowl game receive 25 points.

Schools are only allowed to count their highest-scoring 19 teams toward their Director’s Cup point total. Baseball, volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball must be included within those 19 teams.

Iowa had 11 sports teams combine for a total of 658.5 points over the course of the 2020-21 school year.

Iowa’s fall sports teams brought in a total of 193 points.

With their trip to the Final Four in May, Iowa field hockey secured 83 points towards the Hawkeye total. Iowa football head coach Kirk Ferentz’s squad notched 60 points with its No. 15 finish in the final USA Today poll, and women’s soccer tallied 50 points with their second-round finish in the NCAA tournament.

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Led by its national champion wrestling team, winter sports grabbed the most points for Iowa.

Iowa wrestling’s national championship added 100 points to the Hawkeye total, followed by the 54 points that the Iowa women’s basketball team secured with their trip to the Sweet 16.

With the help of consensus national player of the year Luka Garza and second-team All-Big Ten guard Joe Wieskamp, Hawkeye men’s basketball tallied 50 points with their second-round finish in the NCAA Tournament.

Both of Iowa’s gymnastics teams joined in with 53 points from the women and 32.5 from the men, and men’s track and field rounded out the scoring earning with 47 points from their performance at the NCAA indoor track and field championships.

The Hawkeyes were ranked in the top 15 following the big push from winter sports but fell to No. 30 following the spring season.

Iowa’s track and field teams and men’s golf were the only programs that managed to add to the point total.

Big Ten Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year Joey Woody led the Hawkeyes to their best finish at the NCAA outdoor championships in over 50 years. Their 12th place finish earned the Hawkeyes 64.5 points toward their Director’s Cup total.

The women’s track and field team’s 26th place finish at the 2021 NCAA outdoor championships put 46.5 points on the board as well.

Iowa men’s golf, finishing 62nd nationally, rounded out the scoring with eight points.

The No. 30 rank in the 2020-21 Director’s Cup final standings is Iowa’s third-straight top 40 finish.